


the night rolls on like a long lost friend ('til the sunrise bleeds like the bitter end)

by Thelonewolfdies



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:01:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelonewolfdies/pseuds/Thelonewolfdies
Summary: This time when someone dares Kim to leave, she takes the chance.Or, trimberly road trip.





	1. i need a saving grace, a hiding place

_In, out_. T rini breathes slowly as she lowers her hands, balancing on her left leg.

She brings her leg down, music blaring through the headphones fitted snugly over her beanie, and exhales.

One more night, she thinks. One night closer to the day when they move and she can get out of this shitty town and on the road to whatever bumfuck place her parents will drag her to next.

Trini pulls out her phone, scrolling to pick another song when the last strains of the previous one fade out, when she hears something else.

She pulls her headphones off, and rolls her eyes when she realises someone’s playing music out loud. _Get some headphones, jerk. You’re not the only one angsting around here._

She pushes her way through the underbrush, moving in the direction of the music, when she hears a faint splash.

 _Of course. Some drunk idiot who’s probably gonna drown themselves._ She parts the tree branches, seeing the small speaker placed on a big rock above a pool, and the concentric ripples moving outwards from a point just below the rock.

“Spying on me?” Trini jumps and whirls around, her hands flying up. “Relax, if I was going to jump you I’d probably be dressed in more than a towel.”

Trini looks at the intruder, recognising her as one of the popular chicks from school, and realises that _yes,_ she’s just in a towel.

“Probably not safe to be in just a towel at midnight, in the woods.”

“But then what conversation starter would I use to get the tiny brooding chick from bio to talk to me?” The girl, Kimberly Hart, unfolds the towel from around her chest, exposing a dark pink bra and black panties, and slings the towel over her shoulder.

“Um.” Trini turns to watch her as she walks up to the rock and picks up her clothes, shrugging on a loose tee and jeans.

“Cat got your tongue?”

“Guess I’m just not used to half-naked cheerleaders dropping their towels in front of me.”

Kimberly saunters up to her and looks her up and down with a critical eye. “Can’t see why.” She throws Trini a wink over her shoulder, and Trini just looks at her as she walks off.

“You coming?” Trini scrambles after her, not even bothering to berate herself over how pathetic she’s acting.

Kimberly pulls on a leather jacket, walking out to the edge of the hill that overlooks the city.

“How long have you been here?” She turns, looking at Trini.

“A year.”

“And you’re not sticking around?”

“Probably not. My family doesn’t really do sticking around.” The words stick in her mouth, feeling bitter and heavy.

“Lucky.” The girl looks over the town with a critical eye.

“Let me guess, you’re a small town girl with big town dreams?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Trini smiles to herself, looking down. There’d been no bite to the cheerleader’s words, just carelessly thrown around. Like they were friends.

“I hate it here.” The joking tone is gone from her voice, and Trini looks up to see the heavy set of her brow and her jaw grinding.

“Why?”

“Shitty friends, shitty school, shitty ex. Take your pick.”

“Sure.” Trini scoffs, and Kimberly turns to her.

“What’s your problem? You don’t even know me.”

“I know your type. Parents on the PTA, these friends you’ve known since you were in grade school, probably the ex as well. You’re gonna get back together with him, get married too young, and never leave this podunk town.”

“Nice condescension.” The girl turns back to look at the vista of lights glimmering below them, picking at her fingernails.

“I call it like I see it.”

“So where, in this story, does it fit in that I’m a social pariah and none of them are going to associate with me again?”

Now that was surprising.

“I don’t know.” Trini moves in front of her, disrupting her view and forcing Kimberly to look at her. “Where are you gonna let it fit in?”

She looks at Trini, studying her. Trini wants to shrink back from her view, always bad at handling attention, but something in her makes her stand her ground.

“Do you like it here?” She asks, and Trini nearly snorts.

“About as much as any of the three places I’ve lived in the last three years.”

“So not much?”

Trini shakes her head, grimacing. “Not much.”

“So let’s go.” Trini’s head snaps up, looking at the girl in front of her. She’s got the beginnings of a mischievous glint in her eye, and Trini is such a goner for it.

“What?”

“You hate it here, I hate it here. Let’s just go, drive until we can’t see or hear or smell it anymore.”

Trini feels an incredulous smile grow on her face. “You wouldn’t.”

“You wanna try me?”

“You’d never do it.”

“Is that a dare?”

Trini thrusts her hand out, in between them. “Shake on it.” 

Kimberly takes her hand, warm and soft, and shakes it once.

“I’ve got a car. Meet you here in an hour and a half, and if you don’t we never mention it again.”

“You’re on.” Trini’s buzzing, an adrenaline high she never wants to come down from, and Kimberly smiles at her before turning back the way she came.

Trini turns too, shaking her head incredulously.

“Wait!” She hears the girl call behind her.

“What?”

“What’s your name?” 

“It’s Trini. Yours?” She yells, realising that she probably shouldn't let on that she knows the girl if she doesn't know her, and the girl yells back “Kimberly!” before disappearing into the brush they came from.

Okay. She's in major, major trouble. Her heart doesn't seem to register that, though, and it sings the whole walk home


	2. i don't have forever or time to waste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim and Trini hit the road.

Kim runs home, squeezing the excess water from her hair as she does. She climbs the trellis under her room, clambering through her window. She goes to her wardrobe, dragging out a big duffle bag.

She mutters to herself as she runs around her room, grabbing different bits of clothing, keeping busy enough that she doesn’t have a chance to ask herself what the _hell_ she’s doing. She stubs her toe on the corner of her bed, cursing under her breath, but walks quietly to the bathroom and scoops the contents of the vanity into her toiletries bag, which she tosses on top of the duffel.

Nearly trembling, her stomach violent with nerves and adrenaline, Kim adds the last things she can think of to the pile and tiptoes down the stairs after leaving a hastily written note on the dining room table. God, she’s going to get in _so_ much trouble. 

She closes the front door quietly, opening the side door to the garage and grabbing some cans of fuel that she dumps in the trunk of her car along with her duffle.

Rolling out of her driveway, she keeps her revs as quite as possible. God knows her parents are on a cocktail of sleeping pills and alcohol heavy enough that they could sleep through an airplane landing in their front yard, but it never hurt to be cautious.

She makes her way to the entrance of the quarry, getting out and walking up to the hill where she met Trini, wringing her fingers together and trying not to vomit.

“Didn’t think I’d see you back here.” Trini’s got her back to Kim and headphones on her head, but still seems to hear her approach.

“I’m a girl of my word, don’t you know.”

“Just save time and assume I don’t know anything about you.” Trini turns to her, backpack slung over one shoulder, and a reluctant grin on her face.

If Kim’s as good at reading people as she wants to believe, Trini’s just as nervous as she is.

“Should we get this show on the road?” Kim gestures back down to her car, and her and Trini walk in relative silence to the bottom of the road.

“Cute.” Is the only word Trini says, her eyebrow arched at Kim’s tiny car.

“What? She’s got character.” Trini pats the bonnet of her (truly ugly) car, a fond expression on her face. “And she runs on like, next to nothing.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Trini throws her backpack in the backseat, folding herself into the passenger side. She looks at Kim as Kim puts her key in the ignition, putting her had over Kim’s before she shifts into gear. 

“Are we really doing this?” Trini asks, and the sarcastic edge in her voice that’s been there all night is gone.

In answer, Kim’s turns the engine over and gives Trini a wild grin.

“You bet we are.”

 

-

 

They make their way out of the quarry, Kim slapping Trini’s hand away when she tries to turn on the radio.

“Not until we get out of here, you moron.”

Trini just rolled her eyes at that, crossing her arms over her chest as she flopped dramatically back into the seat.

“You know, that would be more effective if I wasn’t seriously considering buying you a booster seat in the next town.” The glare she receives is nothing short of acidic, but Kim smiles to herself as she drives past store after store in the quiet dawn.

“What did you tell your parents?” Trini asks, breaking the silence that settles over them.

“I wrote that my friend was having a meltdown and wanted to get of town for a few days, and I was gonna go with them to keep them safe and try to talk them down. You?"

“You wrote a note? That’s so retro.”

“Oh yeah?” Kim glances over at Trini, a smile on her face. “What did you say?”

“I texted dad once I’d left that I just needed to get out for a while, and that I had a friend who was trustworthy and I was going with them to a funeral out of town.”

“Texted? That’s cold.”

“Yeah, but maybe he’ll think I have emotions when he reads the bit about the funeral.”

Kim raises an eyebrow but keeps her eyes on the road, making a mental note to unpack that statement later.

“Where are we going?”

“I haven’t got a clue.”

“How long are we going?” At that, Kim shrugs, non committal.

“I figure until we run out of fuel, money or patience with each other.”

“You think I’m that bad of a road trip partner?”

“I don’t think I know you well enough to be annoyed at you yet, so that’s a plus.”

Trini doesn’t seem to have anything sarcastic to reply with, so she sits quietly in her seat, looking through her phone.

The sun rises as they’re on the road, a soft golden light illuminating everything around them and setting the lighter parts of Trini’s hair aflame when Kim looks over at her.

“Wanna play a game?” Kim asks, tapping a hand on the wheel.

“That’s not really something I wanna hear, being trapped twenty minutes out of town in a car with someone I don’t know, having watched Saw with my brothers a week ago.”

“Hey! I can’t help the Saw thing, that’s on you.”

Trini shrugs, a half smile on her face, and Kim’s emboldened.

“Come on, we should probably know the bare minimum about each other. When’s your birthday?”

Trini rolls her eyes, but answers.

“Twelfth of March. Yours?”

“10th of December. Your turn.”

“What’s your favourite thing to do in Angel Grove?” Trini’s voice takes on a patronising lilt, like some kind of elementary tour guide.

“You walked in on me doing it. Yours?”

“Haven’t been here long enough to find one, won’t be here long enough to try. Your turn.”

“Okay, teen angst. What’s the last concert you went to?”

Trini smiles then, a real smile. “You can’t laugh.”

“Cross my heart.”

“Maroon Five, with my brothers.”

“Come on, that’s not even that embarrassing! I was expecting, like, Tim McGraw.”

“That’s just too fucking far.” Trini stares daggers at her, jokingly pulling on the door handle.

“Sorry, I take it back. Mine was Tove Lo.”

“God, of course it was.”

“You like Maroon Five, shut up. Your turn.”

“What exactly are you running from?” Trini asks, and Kim’s silent for a while, her hands tightening on the wheel.

“Pass.” Trini arches an eyebrow, and doesn’t offer up another question.

“Sorry. It’s just, like, something I’d rather not talk about now.”

“It’s cool.” But Trini doesn’t exactly look cool, and she picks at her fingernails where they rest on her knees.

Kim looks at the fuel gauge, thanking her lucky stars that she filled up two days before they left, and then at Trini. She’s got her head resting on her fist, her elbow resting on the window, and Kim moves her hand from the wheel to flick the radio on.

“Absolutely not.” Trini switches from the pop radio station they’re on, flicking through channels.

“Come on, they’re classics!”

Kim looks away from the road to see the absolute deadpan expression on Trini’s face, and relents.

“Fine, but driver gets veto rights. There’s an AUX in the centre console.”

Kim probably should’ve called it, then.

Kim doesn’t put up with things for other peoples’ sakes.

She doesn’t go out to eat at places she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t go out and watch movies she knows she won’t enjoy, and she _definitely_ doesn’t listen to music she hates.

But when Trini puts on something with blaring guitars and a heavy drum beat, the kind of song Kim would normally detest, she just watches Trini tap a beat out against the side of her thigh and sing along under her breath.

Kim really should’ve seen this coming.


	3. i wanna drive so far we only hear static on the radio

Trini wakes to the thrum of the car below her, and pulls her sticky cheek off her jacket.

Blinking slowly, squinting from the glare, she looks over at Kim.

“What time is it?”

Kimberly glances at the display on the dashboard, turning down the music.

“It’s just after three.”

“Have you been driving the whole time?”

“Yep. We got on the freeway about half an hour ago.”

Trini stretches out, feeling her back pop satisfyingly. Her shirt rises a few inches, exposing a strip of skin above her jeans, and she grabs the door handle as the car swerves slightly.

“What the hell was that?”

“Sorry, sorry, I got distracted.” Kimberly runs a hand through her hair, a slight pink blush rising on her cheekbones, and Trini shakes her head.

“Whatever dude, if you kill me I’m coming back to haunt you.”

“My ghost would be way tougher than your ghost.”

“Hey!” Trini slaps Kimberly’s arm (gently, because as insulted as she is, she _does_ value her own life) “My ghost could kick your ass.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kimberly chances a glance over at her, one brow raised incredulously. “Maybe you should go back to sleep.”

“You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

‘I’m hilarious.” Kimberly says distractedly, jerking her thumb towards the back seat. "There's some chips I threw back there, can you grab the packet?"

“Fine, princess.” Trini rummages in the back seat, pulling a massive bag of chips out.

“Ah ha!” Kim looks Trini with a victorious grin on her face, holding her hand out.

Trini just looks at her.

“What? I’ve had to suffer and be hungry the whole time you were asleep. Shut up and feed me.”

Trini suppresses a smile, pulling open the bag and stuffing a fistful in her mouth.

“You know I told you to get those for me, right?”

“This is my fee for handing them to you.” Trini says around a mouthful of crumbs.

“Are you always this dopey after you wake up, or is this your natural state and you just put on the menacing act at school?”

“Guess you’ll find out after a few days.” Trini hands Kimberly a handful of chips.

Keeping her eyes on the road, Kimberly grasps Trini’s wrist, pulling it up to her mouth. She bites down, taking all the chips in one mouthful, and smiles through her puffed cheeks.

Trini scoffs in disgust, shaking the crumbs off her hand and wiping the rest on Kimberly’s sleeve, causing a muffled shriek from the taller girl.

Kimberly swallows them down, flicking her eyes away from the road to shoot a piercing glare at Trini, who shrugs her shoulders innocently.

“Okay, so after our last failed get-to-know-you game, I think we should try again.”

“The last wasn’t enough of a cautionary tale?”

“I don’t give up that easily, Trin.”

_Trin._ She said it so casually, but Trini can’t remember the last time someone gave her a nickname.

“Fine then, _Kim._ What do you suggest?”

“Look at us, giving each other nicknames. We’re bonding!” It’s delivered with a teasing tone, but Trini can’t help but smile.

“Just tell me what you want to do, or I’m going back to sleep.”

“Never have I ever?” Kimberly suggests, her nails tapping on the wheel.

“How old are we?”

Kimberly rolls her eyes, lolling her head dramatically.

“Are you ever going to give a straight, non sarcastic answer, or are you gonna be a pain in my ass this entire trip?”

“Fine, I’ll play your stupid middle school game.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“How are we gonna play it? I’m not sure if you remember, but you probably can’t drink while driving, and I didn’t bring any booze with me.”

Kimberly scrunches her nose thoughtfully, and Trini can’t help but find it endearing.

“How about you eat a chip when you’ve done something, and I’ll… Tap the dashboard.”

“This is going to be so much fun.” Trini draws out the last three words, and gets a punch to her thigh for it. “Jesus, fine! You’re so angry for a cheerleader.”

“Not a cheerleader anymore.” Kimberly states, almost distractedly, and Trini gets the feeling that it’s a bit more loaded than Kimberly’s making it seem.

“Right,” Trini says, more to break the silence than anything else, “do you want me to start?” Taking Kimberly’s silence for assent, she racks her brains.

“Never have I ever… Stolen something."

The side of Kimberly’s mouth quirks up in a smile, and she raps her knuckles against the dash.

Trini gasps, putting her hand over her mouth.

“Shut up, I was young. You listen to Maroon 5.”

“Get over it. Your turn.”

Kimberly hums to herself, her brow furrowed. “Never have I ever broken into school.”

Trini doesn’t react, and neither does Kim.

Their game continues like that for a while until they both run out of steam and questions, and Kimberly tells Trini to look up some more.

She grabs her phone from where she threw it in the back, and opens it up to fifteen missed calls and innumerable messages.

“Shit.”

Kimberly glances over and looks at her phone, her face blanching.

“We should probably deal with that.” She says, turning back to look at the road ahead with a blank face.

“Yeah,” Trini makes a show of clearing her notifications and opening her browser, “later.”

It’s worth the shitstorm she’s going to get, Trini thinks, if it gets Kimberly to smile like that.

“Alright, hit me.”

Trini scrolls down a list of questions, ignoring the majority of them. “Here’s one, never have I ever gotten in a physical fight.” She eats a chip, Kimberly reaching out to tap the dashboard.

“Do you wanna explain that, princess?”

“Not at all. Next question.”

Trini looks at the list again, chewing her bottom lip as she looks at the next one.

“Never have I ever kissed someone of the same gender.”

Kimberly smiles, drumming her fingers against the dash as Trini grabs a chip out of the bag.

“That’s unexpected.”

“Hardly. Cheerleader, remember?”

Trini has to try _very_ hard to not imagine Kimberly, in a cheerleading uniform, kissing girls. It doesn’t work.

“How stereotypical of you.”

“Give me a break, teen angst. You’ve done it too.”

“Yep.” Trini doesn’t offer anything more than that, and Kimberly glances over at her, a bemused expression on her face.

“Right.” Kimberly drums her fingers against the wheel, humming contemplatively, and turns off the freeway at the next exit.

“Where are we going?”

“Hope you packed your bathers, Wednesday Addams. We’re going to the beach."


	4. somewhere out here we're finding ourselves

Kim’s eyes feel funny by the time she pulls them off the freeway. She’s getting antsy in her seat too, a nervous energy that can’t quite be dispelled by drumming on the wheel and tapping her free hand against her leg.

She’s growing a little more anxious by the minute, too, knowing the impending call she’s going to have to make eventually. With this, and what happened with Amanda, she’s pretty sure she won’t see the outside world until she’s fifty.

But she can deal with that later. Right now, she’s got half a tank of gas and the sun is beating down on her through the window and she’s headed to the beach with a girl she met half a day ago.

“You know where you’re going?” Trini asks from beside her, resting her cheek on her arm and looking at the signs along the road.

“I’ve got a vague idea.” Kim replies distractedly, making a right turn and smiling when the glittering coastline comes in to view.

“Not bad.” Kim turns to look at Trini, and she’s got a beanie (really? it’s _summer_ ) pulled over her head and a reluctant smile on her face.

“I know.”

They ride in silence, pulling up in the parking lot overlooking the beach. It’s empty for a Sunday, and Kim pulls her swimsuit out of her duffel before ducking around a tree to change. Trini does the same, emerging in a modest one piece and _okay._ The baggy tee shirts really didn’t do her body justice.

The water’s cold, but Kim is no stranger to chilly dips. She smiles against her will, diving into the waves and doing some lazy strokes to get further out into the water. When she looks back, Trini’s only up to her waist and shivering.

“You’ve gotta move, you’ll warm up more if you swim.”

Trini stares daggers at her, not moving, and something clicks in Kim.

“Can you?”

“What?”

“Can you _swim.”_ Kim asks slowly, and Trini uncrosses her arms and turns to look at her, her mouth pursed.

“Not well.”

“But you can swim a little?”

“Not… really.”

Kim laughs. “Seriously?”

“Hey, don’t be an asshole.”

“No, sorry, it’s not like it’s something to be embarrassed about. Didn’t live near the water before you came to Angel Grove?”

“Didn’t live near much at all before Angel Grove.”

“That might be the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.” Kim pulls a face, and it’s only when Trini scowls at her that she relents. “Sorry, I honestly don’t mean to be an asshole. Do you want to learn?”

She’s met with a raised brow. “You’re gonna teach me how to swim?”

“Come one, it’ll be fun!”

“God, you’re such a cheerleader.”

“I… might deserve that, but that wasn’t a no.”

Trini looks at her, long and hard, the ends of her hair wet and trailing over her shoulders and clavicle. It’s hard not to stare, but Kimberly keeps her eyes firmly fixed on Trini’s, which soften.

“Fine.”

Kimberly squeals, and Trini looks immediately regretful.

“No backing out now!”

 

-

 

Kim doesn’t give Trini a moment to regret it. They stay in the water until the sun starts to move past its zenith, and Kim’s only slightly amazed at the fact that they’ve made it this far.

Trini’s lips are turning blue, and Kim suggests they get out of the water for a bit.

“Thank god.” Trini’s teeth are chattering.

“You’re not that cold, stop exaggerating.”

“You’ve got more body mass than I do, it stands to reason you’d be warmer.” 

Kim scoffs, hitting Trini lightly in the shoulder as they splash onto shore. “You calling me fat?”

“Just dry off, Hart.”

Kim rolls her eyes, picking a towel out of the backseat of the car before something registers.

“You know my last name?” She asks, propping her elbows up on the roof of the car, looking at Trini on the other side.

Trini looks up, startled, and Kim thinks she sees the tips of her ears go red.

“I mean, yeah. I guess.”

“So, when you asked me for my name back at the quarry, what was that?”

“It would’ve been kind of weird to just tell you I knew your full name without you having told me, wouldn’t it?”

Kim raises her eyebrow, enjoying the flush that’s spreading over Trini’s face. “It’s kinda weirder that you lied about it.”

“I didn’t lie!”

“Sure thing, Trin. You just forgot to mention you knew my full name when you asked for it.”

Trini just looks at her with her head tilted and brow furrowed, which Kim thinks is as close as she gets to a look of despair.

“Fine, I don’t actually care that much.” Kim pulls a smaller bag out of the car, walking around to the front of the car and boosting herself up to sit on the hood. Trini looks at her, and Kim sighs. “Are you gonna brood over there, or come join me?”

 

-

 

They’re lying there in silence as the sun descends further to the horizon, the sounds of the waves breaking against the shore lulling Kim into a kind of half-sleep; she’s only slightly aware of her surroundings, the shadows are long and the cliffs on the other side of the beach are dyed gold by the setting sun. Trini’s beside her, half sitting up, watching the waves lap at the sand.

They’ve been silent since they both got off the phone.

The other girl’s parents answered the phone confused and furious, shouting at Trini about responsibilities to her parents and her brothers until Trini, before then quiet and defensive, exploded and hung up on them.

Kim only fared marginally better, her parents’ tone icy and promising hell to pay when she returns. 

It makes her want to live like this forever, makes her want to keep pretending that she never has to go back and that the only responsibilities she has are to herself and the girl next to her.

She turns her head towards Trini, putting her hands under her head. “Do you ever wish you could just go?”

“Isn’t that what we did?”

“No, I mean, go forever. Just keep driving, on and on.”

Trini doesn’t look at her, looking out at the shoreline and replying in monotone. “Gas would probably get expensive.”

“Can you just indulge me?”

Trini looks at her, hair wild and wind tossed, salt crusted on her temples. “No, I don’t.”

“Really?” Kim settles back, folding her hands behind her chest. “I can’t wait to get out of here when I go to college.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

Kim furrows her brow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that leaving home isn’t the same as not having one.”

“I guess, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want both.”

“You might not like it there, but you can’t say you don’t like the stability.”

“You keep talking to me like you know me, Trini.”

Trini scoffs, finally turning to look at her. “Because I do know you, Kimberly."

“You don’t know ten things about me.”

“I’ve known girls like you.”

“Right, because we’re all the same.” Kim crosses her arms over her chest. “And they call cheerleaders judgemental.”

“Yeah, not without reason."

“What the hell is your problem, Trini?"

“Yo, I’m just speaking from experience.” Trini holds her hands out defensively, but Kim’s pissed off.

“Your experience means jack shit when it comes to me. Stop pretending that you know everything when it comes to people, because you definitely don’t know me.”

“Fine.” Trini drops back onto the hood, looking away. “I don’t know you.”

“Hey.” Kim softens, uncrossing her arms. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want you to.”

“You’re right, I don’t know you. Didn't think you’d be the type for sap.”

Kim scoffs, turning away. “Never mind, let’s keep it that way.”

“Brat.”

“Bitch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I updated this one, it's a little frustrating bc there are so many things I want to do with this one but i just CAN'T GET THERE YET so I'll just keep plodding along and hope I don't bore y'all too much, I hope you enjoy it much love <3


	5. it's okay, we've got plenty of time

It's when the sun properly starts setting and the ocean reflects a deep, burnished orange that Trini starts to get properly drowsy. She’d only had a short nap in the car and Kimberly hasn’t slept all since they left, so Trini stretches out on the bonnet and yawns.

“Tired?” Kimberly mumbles.

Trini looks down at her where she’s curled up with her arm falling over the side of the car, and laughs.

“You have no room to give me shit for it.”

Kimberly struggles up then, fixing Trini with a baleful glare.

“I’m not _always_ making fun of you, Trini. I was _asking_ if you were tired so we could go to sleep somewhere more comfortable than the hood of my car.”

“Oh, right.” Trini looks towards the water, shivering. “That would be good, I guess. I’m a bit cold.”

“You’re in a tee shirt and shorts over wet bathers, you deserve it.”

“You were saying something about not always making fun of me?”

Kimberly runs a hand through her hair, sliding off the hood of the car onto the ground. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”

“I try my best.” Trini follows suit. “So where are we sleeping?”

“I mean, I brought a two-person tent, but it’s a freezing night. We could just sleep in the car?”

Trini wrinkles her nose automatically, rushing to explain when she sees Kimberly looking affronted. “I just mean, like, that’s a bit too close and I haven’t had a shower in over a day and a half.”

“We’re not sleeping in a cocoon, Trini. I’ll crack a window and we can take a dip before we go to sleep.”

“Wait, so that swim before wasn’t enough for you? Now you want to just quickly catch hypothermia before we go to sleep?”

Kimberly arches an eyebrow, examining her nails. “You can stink if you want, not my responsibility.”

Trini groans, looking out at the ocean with trepidation. “Fine, I’ll go in.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Kimberly claps her hands, and Trini barely represses a sigh.

 

-

 

They don’t end up swimming.

Walking down the winding sandy path that leads to the beach, they find a cold shower next to the dunes and Trini breathes a small sigh of relief.

“Oh, I guess this’ll do instead?” She asks, already draping her towel over a nearby bush and pulling off her tee shirt.

“Yeah, I mean I’m sure it’ll work…” Kimberly throws a wistful glance towards the water, “I was just kind of excited to go for a swim.”

Trini turns on the shower, wincing when she feels the temperature, but stepping under the spray anyway. “Be my guest, but I’m sticking with this one.”

She plucks Kimberly’s hairbrush from her hand, trying to untangle the ends of her hair in its salty, messy mop. Kimberly looks at her and grimaces in sympathy, bringing a hand to her own hair.

“I think I can deal with this.” Kimberly strips off her shirt in one smooth motion, exposing her purple and black bikini top, and pulls her shorts down her long legs.

“It’s freezing, just warning you now.” Trini takes a bar of soap from the bag she brought up, rubbing it between her hands and taking satisfaction in the feeling of finally getting clean. Road trips are fun and all, but it’s never ideal to spend hours on end in a car with no real opportunities to uphold personal hygiene.

Kimberly steps forward, and Trini backs up. “No way, wait your turn!”

“Trini, don’t be a bitch, just share.” Kimberly darts into the shower with her, and Trini gives her a playful shove.

“What’re you even doing? It’s not like I’m using up the heat.”

“We’re saving time and water.”

“Kimberly, the sun hasn’t even set yet and we have _nowhere_ to be. I think you’re just doing this to annoy me.” Trini looks up at Kimberly, cursing their height difference, and the small smile on Kimberly’s face is enough to confirm it.

“Not at all. Budge over, my turn.” She nudges Trini out of the way, and Trini _definitely does not_ squeak in an undignified manner in protest.

Trini just grumbles, put out and shivering next to the shower. “We’re definitely not close enough for you to be this much of a bitch to me yet.”

“Yet? Like that’s a goal I’m working towards?”

“Seems like it.” Trini keeps her eyes averted from the water pouring down Kimberly’s back, between _very_ defined shoulder muscles and _oh my god,_ she has back dimples.

Cool. Cool cool cool.

“God, I have sand everywhere.” Punctuating her point, Kimberly undoes her bikini and takes it off completely with her back to Trini, turning it over under the spray before arching her spine and cracking her vertebrae.

Trini’s voice goes up several pitches and possibly an entire octave. “Um, you can have the shower. I’ll just-“ she turns on her heel, looking away and feeling a flush cover her face, ears and possibly entire neck. If she’s being honest, it’s a bit of a surprise the water on her doesn’t evaporate completely.

Kimberly laughs, and Trini has no idea where to look.

“Okay, chill out. I’m decent.” Trini hazards a look back, and true to her word, she’s put her bikini top back on and is flushing water through her hair.

“Save time my ass.” Trini grumbles, jostling Kimberly out of the way.

 

-

 

The sun sets fast once it hits the horizon, the night falling fast enough that they hurry back up the stairs before it gets too dark to find their way. Kimberly’s long legs mean she takes the steps up two at a time, and Trini’s far too competitive to take that lying down. She matches her pace, taking the steps twice as fast as Kimberly to keep up, and Kimberly notices.

She ups the tempo, speeding up to the carpark, and Trini adjusts accordingly.

Kimberly breaks into an all out run.

They’re running up the hill, slipping and sliding on the gravel and sand, Kimberly holding the lead and giggling. Trini puts on a final burst of speed to clear the last step before her, turning back with her hands on her hips.

Kimberly saunters up to her, barely breathing hard, and Trini narrows her eyes.

“Did you let me win?”

Kimberly blinks twice, slowly, looking at Trini with a purely innocent expression. “Win what?”

“God, drive me home.”

“My name’s Kimberly, actually. But you already knew that, didn’t you?” Kim breezes past her, and it’s not the first time Trini’s left a little dumbstruck in her wake. It probably won’t be the last.

 

-

 

Trini makes the decision to change out of the clothes she’s been wearing since they left, opting instead for a soft, worn shirt and long cotton pants. Kim’s in much the same, a matching pyjama set of shirt and pants, and she’s put the top half of her hair in a wispy bun.

Trini awkwardly arrangers herself along the back seat, her head up against the door and her legs falling off the seat at the other end. Kim smirks and snaps a picture, much to Trini’s disdain, but unfolds a sleeping bag and drapes it over her afterwards.

“Where are you sleeping?” Trini asks, barely comprehensible under a heavy yawn, and Kim cracks her neck, turning off the heater they’ve had running for a few minutes and turning off the car.

“I’ll recline the passenger seat.” She does so, the back of the seat hitting Trini’s knees

Pulling out a second sleeping bag, she unzips it into a blanket and pulls it over herself as she curls up onto the seat.

“What are we doing tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.” Kim stifles a yawn, rolling over so she faces Trini and nestling to get comfortable, pulling the sleeping bag up to her nose. “Let’s decide in the morning.” Her voice trails off, and Trini doesn’t bother to hide her smile. Kim falls asleep in record time, the little hairs escaping her bun and draping around her face fluttering with each exhalation.

Trini forces her eyes open just long enough to take a photo as payback, taking a moment to study it. Kim’s face is so heartbreakingly young and calm in the picture, her hands folded up under her head and smooshing her cheeks, and it’s maybe the most innocent Trini’s ever seen her.

She locks her phone and drops it to the floor, finally giving in and letting Kim’s steady breaths lull her to sleep.


	6. we'll walk on grass that's greener, and our cares will all be freer

Kim wakes with a mouth that tastes like death and teeth that feel like moss has grown over them.

Groaning, she rolls over on her seat/bed and brings her hands up to rub at her face, picking sleep out of her eyes and pulling her hair off the sweaty nape of her neck.

They’ve both slept in far past sunrise, and the rays are beating through the window of the car.

“Trini?” Kim says it in a half-whisper, not wanting to wake the girl if she’s still asleep, and shrugs when she gets no reply. Tossing the sleeping bag off her and getting out of the car, stretching her legs satisfyingly after being cramped up for the whole night, she takes in the view.

It’s high tide, the water coming up nearly to the dunes, and there’s an offshore breeze that causes the waves to rise up in near perfect curls. Kim marvels at the fact that the beach is almost empty in spite of the perfect surfing conditions.

Screw it.

She walks around to the back of the car, pulling out her bikini from where she’d laid it over her bags, closing the door as quietly as possible and changing into them.

 

-

 

She dives under the water, her eyes stinging and watering, her hair getting increasingly wild and ratty, but she just pushes it out of her face and keeps swimming. The air’s getting warmer, even though the water’s still cold, so she swims out past the point where the waves break and floats on her back, looking up at the clear blue sky.

It’s only when her stomach starts actually rumbling that she registers how hungry she is, and she realises they haven’t eaten anything except a bag of chips in over 24 hours. So, regretfully, she swims slowly towards shore. She ducks under the surface, curling her body over and moving sinuously through the water, revelling in the cold and the freedom she feels slicing through the water. God, what would she do in a landlocked state?

Walking up the beach, she spies Trini sitting on the hood of the car with a bottle in hand.

“Hey. Can I have some?” Kim asks, reaching out her hand as she draws closer. She got more than one mouthful of salty water, and her mouth is parched.

“Probably not a good idea, if you want to be driving anytime soon.” Trini tilts the bottle towards her, and she sniffs the lip of it.

“Oh dude, gross. It’s like, midday.”

“Your point?”

“Anyway, I was thinking,” shepulls her own water bottle out of the cupholder, grimacing at the warmth of it, “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. We should go hit up a diner or something.”

“Sounds good.” Trini slides off the hood, draining the last of the bottle and throwing it in the backseat.

Kim glares at her.

“What?”

“Put that bottle away, you barbarian.”

“Jesus, fine mom.” Trini puts her hands up defensively, putting the bottle in her back and zipping it up aggressively before sitting in the front seat, plugging her phone in to a portable charger. Kim dries her hair as she watches Trini send a message off to her parents, and tosses her phone to Trini.

“The code’s 2-4-3-4, can you send one to my parents too? Just that we’re alive and okay.”

“Sure, I guess.” Kim turns away from the car, not bothering to go into the bushes like she had been doing before undoing her bikini top and pulling a loose shirt on.

“You do realise you’re out in the open, right?”

“We’re pretty much the only people here, Trini.”

“Modesty is a virtue.” Kim finishes buttoning up her shorts, and leans down to look in the window incredulously.

“You ran away at midnight with me for a clandestine road trip and you were just drinking alcohol on the hood of my car. Do you really wanna talk to me about modesty?”

“Ugh, just drive us somewhere for food.”

Kim pulls her hair up into a low bun, the hairs that escaped at the bottom tickling the nape of her neck and dripping water down her back. Her shirt falls off her right shoulder, and Trini reaches over to pull it up for her.

“Thanks.” Kim tucks the bottom of the shirt into her shorts, and slips on the canvas shoes she leaves in the car before starting up the car. It coughs a little, the battery nearly drained from leaving on the heating before going to bed the night before, but Kim holds her breath until the engine turns over and the dash lights up. She checks her fuel gauge, and it’s a pleasant surprise to see they’re only just below half-full.

“Any idea where we’re going?” Trini has her knees drawn up to her chest, still in pyjamas with her beanie jammed down awkwardly over her salty, sleep-tossed hair. She looks like a little kid on a school camp or something, and Kim feels the side of her mouth tug up.

“Nope, not a clue. I figure if we’re on the road for longer than twenty minutes without seeing anything, we’ll look it up.”

“Sounds good.” Kim pulls out of the empty parking lot, gravel crunching under her tires, and they make it onto the open road.

 

-

 

“What about this one?”

It’s a dinky little roadside diner, advertising burgers and milkshakes, and wouldn’t look out of place in _Back to the Future._

“Looks a bit too _Pleasantville_ for my tastes, but it’ll do.” Kim replies distractedly, pulling the car over to park in front of the building. Trini holds the door open for her, raising her eyebrows dismissively when Kim acts out over the top gratitude. They sit down, and are immediately served by an overenthusiastic young waitress who _insists_ that they try the burgers, and that the chips are to die for. She pays extra attention to Trini, who sinks a little lower in her seat every time she receives a too-bright smile, and Kim has to look away to stop from bursting out into laughter.

“Not a word.” Trini warns as soon as the waitress leaves with their orders, before Kim even has a chance to say anything.

“I can go to the bathroom and give you too some alone time, if you want.”

Trini pulls her beanie down over her eyes, grumbling “shut the hell up, Hart,” and Kim leans over the table to yank the beanie off her head. Trini looks up at her, blinking slowly like she’s been stupefied, and Kim holds back a laugh at her hair. It’s a mess, the ringlets that formed when it dried are frizzy and it’s sticking up in all different directions from the beanie. Kim snaps a picture quickly, capturing Trini’s betrayed expression.

“Are you done?” Trini snatches the beanie back from her just as the waitress returns with their milkshakes, and the effect is immediate. She flops back down into her seat, folding the beanie over in her hands and studiously avoiding eye contact with the waitress as she makes a vain effort to engage her in conversation. Kim takes the fall, answering all her questions pleasantly before looking at Trini in reproach once she leaves.

“You don’t have to give her false hope, but it wouldn’t kill you to at least be nice to her.”  


“Didn’t you punch your ex-boyfriend in the mouth?”

“Fuck you, Trini.” Kim slaps a hand over her mouth, but Trini looks nothing short of impressed and a little bit amused.

“Jesus, don’t start throwing fists now.”

Kim just grinds her jaw, taking a long sip of her milkshake.

“Seriously though, please just be nice to the waitress. She’s sweet.”

“You trying to set me up?”

“Are you saying you’d be interested?” Kim challenges, and it’s a study to see all the different emotions Trini’s face goes through.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to push, or whatever. But like, do you like girls? I just kinda get that vibe, but you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Um.” Trini replies elegantly, a finger tracing through the condensation on the glass. “I don’t really know? Maybe.”

“Cool.” They sit in silence for a little longer before Trini blurts out, ”is that weird? Like, does that make you uncomfortable or whatever?”

“Hey, I don’t know what experiences you’ve had in the past, but it’s nothing but okay. You have nothing to worry about from me.” Kim reaches out to cover Trini’s hand with her own, and Trini looks up at her through thick lashes and _seriously they’ve gotta be extensions no one has eyelashes that long naturally_ and smiles slightly, and they sit like that until their plates are placed down in front of them and they spring apart. Kim tries not to dwell on the fact that it feels like they’ve been caught out.

 

-

 

The sign wasn’t wrong, the burgers are pretty amazing. The milkshakes are rich and chocolatey, the fries golden and thick, and Kim devours it all. Trini takes it much more slowly, methodically cycling through her burger, side salad and milkshake. Kim’s caught her looking at her fries with a longing gaze, though, and she take pity on her, sliding the plate into the middle of the table.

“Want ketchup?” She asks when Trini thanks her, and pushes the bottle in her direction. Trini squeezes out a puddle on the side of the plate, and Kim rolls her eyes before taking the bottle form her and liberally squirting it over the whole plate.

“you’re one of _those,_ are you?” Trini’s lips form derisively around the last word, and Kim just laughs.

“Get over yourself, ketchup classist.”

“In all the possible permutations of words in the English language, ‘ketchup classist’ isn’t one I ever expected.”

Kim beans her in the nose with a liberally coated chip, leaving a red smear on her face.

 

-

 

"Can I ask you a question?" Trini asks once she comes back from the bathroom, the sauce cleaned off her face. She looks significantly less murderous than the last time Kim saw her, so she'll take that as a good sign.

"Shoot."

"What made you think I was, you know, not straight?"

"Honestly?"

"No Kimberly, lie to me."

"Well, on one hand, you've got the beanie and the flannel and the headphones and the jeans." Trini looks affronted for a split second before shrugging and nodding. "But more than that... at the risk of sounding really conceited, no straight girl makes that big of a deal over not looking when another girl's getting changed."

"Maybe I just think you're not worth looking at."

"Trini. C'mon. Trini." Kim waves a hand down her body, covered in crumbs as it is, and Trini stifles a laugh.

"Get over yourself." But she looks lighter, and if that's an indicator that these kinds of conversations haven't gone as well in the past, Kim wants to physically fight each and every person who's made her that insecure about herself.

 


	7. get your feet up, just kick it (we've got a one-way ticket)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I'm sorry this is so short. I just wanted to get it out, and I really wanted the next chapter to be on it's own but I also thought these scene had to be there somewhere!

“Hey Trini.”

“What.”

Kim nudges her with her foot from where they’re lying on the grass, and Trini groans.

“We’d just be finishing school now.”

Trini struggles her way into a sitting position and picks up Kim’s hand from where it rests on the grass, turning it over to look at the watch on her wrist.

“Gross.” She flops back down, throwing an arm over her eyes, tuning out Kim’s snickering. “What’re you laughing about, anyway? You’re missing out too.”

“Yeah, but you just looked too peaceful over there.”

Trini pulls her arm down slightly, opening one eye to glare at Kim. “You’re sadistic.”

“You love it.” Kim rolls over to face her, pulling the arm completely out of the way as she looks at Trini. “We should go to the gym.”

“What the fuck?”

“No, hear me out. We go somewhere like a public pool or a gym or something, and we pay for a single day pass. We pretend to use the equipment for like, ten minutes, and then we just use their shower for ages and boot.”

“That’s actually… a pretty good idea.”

“I know.” Kim turns away quickly, rising fluidly from the ground. She’s got blades of grass and pieces of leaf stuck all over her hair, but she just shakes it out and _still_ manages to look like a supermodel after a road trip, two ocean swims and a cold shower, sans hair products. “Let’s go.”

“Like, now?” Trini asks Kim’s retreating back. She takes the lack of answer as a _yes,_ and just rolls over onto her back. 

They had left the diner twenty minutes ago, Trini nearly having to roll herself out. They’d ordered like, half a pie between them for dessert, and Kim’s eyes had nearly popped out of their head when she’d seen how big it was. Trini would know, she’d taken a picture of her face. The swimming, coupled with the fact that they’d hardly eaten anything in the past day and a half, meant that they were both absolutely _ravenous_. So much so, in fact, that Trini had eaten herself into a food coma of epic proportions and she was trying to sleep it off in a convenient grassy triangle they’d found off the main street. If you could call it that. Trini had lived in a lot of small towns, but this place was _tiny_.

She hears Kim walking back, and wonders to herself if playing dead would be more trouble that it’s worth.

“Come on. I stink, you stink, we need a proper shower with like, soap. And shampoo. Wouldn’t say no to conditioner, either.”

“You’re such a princess.”

Kim nudges her wrist with a booted foot, none too gently. “Call me that again and I’ll step on that hand.”

 

***

 

They manage to find a gym, somehow. It’s a big, franchised place, all gleaming chrome with heated indoor pool and all the bells and whistles. They try and make it believable, digging out tank tops and the closest things to activewear they can find (even though neither of them really packed on the assumption they’d go for many jogs) and draping towels over the straps of their bags. Trini stands by her statement that the bored teenagers at reception really _don’t care_ what facilities they’re here to use, but Kim insists on keeping up the charade.

They buy the cheapest possible tickets, which end up being pool passes on a student concession. Kim looks a little put out at her disguise being useless, but Trini just jostles her and links their arms together as they walk to the showers.

“Are you gonna jump into this one as well, or am I allowed a little privacy this time?” Trini asks as she puts her toiletries bag on the hook on the back of the door.

“Is that an invitation?” Kim shoves her foot in the door when Trini tries to close it, winking at her.

Trini’s throat nearly closes over, and she coughs violently.

“Look, I know we had a d’n’m in the diner or whatever, but you’re not my type.” She closes the door fully, leaning against it when she does and closing her eyes.

“Breaking my heart, Trin!” She hears Kim call over the top of the door, and she just thumps it in answer.

Trini takes a moment to think as she turns on the shower, twisting the hot tap probably a little _too_ far.

Someone with a face and body like Kim’s, coupled with a sense of humour and the obvious brains she displays in biology class is 100% her type, as much as she doesn’t want to admit it.

Of course, that leads her to actually _thinking_ of Kim’s body, of how when she was attempting to teach her how to swim and held her as she paddled (which was like, one of the most embarrassing and condescending things Trini’s experienced, and she’s never ever doing that again) she was somehow warm against the freezing cold of the ocean. Of how, when she’d gotten up before Trini and gone swimming, Trini could see her slicing through the water with grace Trini hardly saw on land.

Trini makes the decision to turn the hot tap back down again.

 

***

 

“Okay, you have to admit this was a good idea.” Kim finally emerges from the shower, one towel wrapped around her hair and another around her chest.

“One of your _only_ good ones.” Trini’s already brushing through her hair, revelling in the fact that it’s free of tangles.

“That’s hurtful.”

“Cry me a river.”

Kim joins her at the mirror, patting her face dry with a corner of the towel wrapped around her hair and applying moisturiser.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Trini asks, tying her brushed hair in a loose bun and pulling her toothbrush out.

“I was thinking maybe we set up the tent? We could find somewhere sheltered from the wind, and today’s been pretty warm, so I don’t think tonight’ll be too glacial.”

“Sounds good. If you snore, though, I’ll smother you.”

“Me?” Kim turns to her, shocked. “You would so be one to snore.”

“I do _not_ snore.”

“You so would!”

“I need to brush my teeth, but this argument isn’t over.” Trini squeezes toothpaste onto her brush, brushing her teeth aggressively while death glaring Kim in the mirror when an older woman walks out of the only other occupied shower, looking at them.

“Oh, I’m really sorry if we were being too loud!” Kim exclaims, looking the picture of innocence.

“Oh honeys, don’t worry about it! My wife and I still rib each other like that. I think it’s so sweet when couples like you have enough fun with each other that you can have light hearted bickering like that. Warms my heart seeing two young girls so carefree together.”

“Oh, we’re-“ Trini garbles through a mouthful of toothpaste, nearly choking when Kim elbows her in the ribs.

“That’s so lovely of you to say! Have a great day, ma’am.” Kim beams a full-wattage smile at the woman, and Trini rolls her eyes. Spitting out the toothpaste, she rinses her mouth out before mouthing _ma’am?_ at Kim in the mirror, who just pulls a face in reply.

“What was that?” Trini whispers as the woman leaves, and Kim turns back to her, her face questioning.

“What was what?”

“We’re not a couple!”

“Jeez, Trin, tell me how you really feel.” Trini just opens her palms out, waiting for an explanation, and Kim sighs. “Look, you heard her. She’s a sweet old lady who sees her younger self in us or whatever. Who are we to deny her that?”

“So… you’d rather lie to her?”

“I mean,” Kim struggles, her face screwing up, “yeah?”

Trini considers it for a beat before tilting her head to the side. “Solid.”

"Glad you could agree. Now get dressed, we've got a lot to do before it gets dark tonight. We've got to find a place to set up the tent, set up the tent, fill up water bottles, collect wood, all that fun stuff."

"Why are we collecting wood?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked!" Kim takes Trini by the hand, spinning her around. Her energy is infectious, and Trini finds herself grinning in spite of herself. "Trini, we're having a campfire!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tune in next time for a campfire and tent antics!!!!


	8. you look so good in this light (yeah, you look like nothing but mine)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the campfire motherfuckers!!!

“It’s upside down.”

“It’s _not_ upside down.”

“Does it make you feel better, lying to yourself?”

Kim almost regrets saying that, given the force behind the glare Trini shoots her way. Kim simply pushes her sunglasses up into her hair, and shakes the tent out. “Okay, seriously. Trust me, I’ve been putting this thing up every time I’ve been camping since we got it.”

“How many times is that?”

Kim pretends to count on her fingers.

“One and a half.”

Trini drops the tent and the handful of pegs she’s holding, sitting down in the dust dramatically.

“Fine, I’ll do it by myself if I have to.” Kim observes the tent critically, walking around it, trying not to look at Trini where she’s sitting, leaning back on her arms.

“Having trouble?”

“Hush,” Kim holds out a finger in Trini’s direction, her eyes never leaving the nylon tangle on the ground, “not a word from you.”

She somehow gets the tent up, misshapen and leaning to one side as it is, but the poles are in the right place and it stands up independently, so she counts it as a win. Trini finally gets off her ass then, brushing the dust off her jeans (which, seriously, skinny jeans? On a road trip?) and pulls out the sides so it stands tall and stable-ish.

“I think we should be proud of ourselves.”

“Yeah, real team building activity. Are we gonna, like, put stuff in it?”

“Right! Yeah.”

 

***

 

It’s only when they get to the car and Kim pulls out her sleeping bag and pillow that they realise they might have a problem.

“What do you mean you didn’t bring anything to sleep in?”

“I mean I didn’t bring anything to sleep in.”

“So what are we gonna do?”

Trini shrugs and picks at her cuticles. “I guess you’re going to be nice and toasty in yours while I rug up and sleep on a pile of clothes?”

“Remember that thing about snoring?”

Trini nods slowly, her usual laconic, bored expression back on her face.

“I’ll share with you, but I swear to god if you snore I _will_ hit you.”

“Wow, that’s _so_ generous.”

“Yeah, it is. Now shut up, help me take this to the tent, and then we’re going to get firewood.”

They lug the sleeping gear out of the back of Kim’s car in relative silence, save for more sarcastic quips from Trini which only serve to tug at the corners of Kim’s mouth. Despite the sarcastic, acerbic exterior and like, four metre high walls, along with very probable parental issues, Kim really likes Trini. She’s funny, smart, good company, and has a really good voice.

 

***

 

_“Try the radio again, we might get better reception going towards the gym.” Kim suggests, nodding to the music player. Trini’s sprawled out in the passenger seat, holding onto her stomach and groaning every few moments. She looks at Kim through baleful eyes, lurching forwards to flick on the radio. Static fills the car, and Trini channel flicks until one of them finally comes through clear._

_“Oh, you’ve gotta turn this up.”_

_“Seriously?”_

_“I get it, you’re edgy and listen to metal and you think anyone who listens to the top forty is a superficial loser, but just get over yourself and admit that this is a great song for a road trip.”_

_“Christ.” Trini does as she’s told though, turning the volume knob until Kim can’t hear the hum of the engine beneath her anymore. She taps on the wheel, singing quietly under her breath as she checks her mirrors._

_“You light me up inside, like the fourth of July…”_

_“Whenever you’re around, I always seem to smile…” Kim looks over at Trini with an expression nothing short of delight, a grin splitting her face. Trini looks back at her, the tips of her ears and her cheekbones turning a light pink as she ducks her head, but keeps singing. She’s not holding her stomach anymore, and Kim feels a little bit of vindictive satisfaction._ Hypochondriac, _she thinks._

_Kim joins in with Trini, a little louder this time, knowing she’s got the voice for it, and Trini matches her volume. Trini’s apparently limitless need to challenge Kim in anything and everything seems to eclipse her embarrassment at singing along to a cheesy pop song, and before long they’re both belting it out on the road, windows down and wind whipping through their hair._

_Trini has a gorgeous voice, rich and throaty and far lower than Kim’s own, but they match nicely and Kim doesn’t miss the appreciative way Trini glances at her when they harmonise._

_The song fades out, but Trini’s looking at Kim with an open expression of pure happiness on her face. Kim can feel her chest expand as she turns to look at her, her breath catching in her lungs._

_It’s a smile, the likes of which Kim’s never seen on Trini, and she giggles quietly when Kim returns it. They sit there, in silence, the radio turned down, but Kim doesn’t think she’ll forget the way Trini looked with the sun beating down on them through the windshield and the windows, her white teeth bright in the slash of the smile that reached from ear to ear._

 

***

 

They collect the firewood, Kim stacking stick after stick onto Trini’s outstretched arms until she can’t see over the top of them, meaning Kim has to stand behind her and guide her with hands on her waist until she finally dumps them down next to the area they’ve cleared. Kim shakes out a rug, kicking rocks and sticks out of the way until the ground is relatively even, laying it out.

“Any idea how to light a fire?” She asks Trini, who just raises an eyebrow like, _seriously?_ “Damn. Lucky for you, I was a girl scout.”

“Bullshit you were.”

Kim pauses from where she’s crouched down next to the firepit, leaning back on her haunches.

“Yeah, that was bullshit.”

“Called it.”

Kim waves her away distractedly, looking at the fire, or lack thereof. She scrunches up some paper tightly, placing it in the pit and then piling twigs on top of them.

“Does that look right?”

“Jesus.” Trini rises, joining her at the edge of the fire pit and swatting her hands out of the way. “You need some actual pieces of wood on there too, you know.”

“Oh shit, so now you’re the expert?”

“Compared to you, yeah, I’m the expert.”

Kim has to admit, she puts the fire together with a bit more efficiency than she was expecting, even if when it’s finally lit there’s a hairy moment where Trini has to blow air into it frantically, and eventually it gets to the point where Trini deems it safe to let it do its thing alone.

They lean back on the blankets, propped up against a tree, and Trini rummages in her rucksack to produce a can of… something.

“Jack and coke. You want one?”

“How much booze did you bring?”

“Enough. You want one or not?”

Kim doesn’t even consider before she’s holding her hand out, cracking the tab and taking a big swig of the contents. Trini’s watching her closely, and Kim laughs quietly.

“If you were expecting me to flinch, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

“Obviously.” Trini leans her head back, draining what must be at least half her can. The fire’s bigger now, the light more intense, and it paints the hollow of Trini’s throat with flickers and shadows.

Kim takes another gulp of her can, her mouth dry, and she looks away.

“So tell me.” Trini starts, crumpling up her now empty can and dropping it beside her, reaching for another. “What crazy antics _have_ former cheerleader Kimberly Hart gotten into?”

“What classifies as crazy?”

“Hmm.” Trini taps her fingernail against her can, black paint chipping off, and hums. “Anything you’d be grounded for.”

“Well, I guess sneaking in to school to smoke pot on the oval counts?”

Trini almost looks impressed at that, hiding a smile and raising an eyebrow. “That it does.”

Pulling at the hem of her shirt, Kim lifts it just enough to flash the gem in her navel at Trini. “And this?”

“Yeah.” Trini replies, the word clipped. She clears her throat, continuing. “Yeah, yeah that counts.”

“What about sneaking out to go to a party hosted by quarterback Jason Scott and having half the team do body shots off you?”

“Now that’s just a sad cliche.”

“ _You’re_ a sad cliche.”

“That one really hurt.” Trini clutches at her chest, and Kim pushes her away, giggling.

“What about you? What crazy antics have you gotten into?”

“I see your smoking pot on the oval and I raise you smoking on the roof of the admin building at my old school.”

Kim whistles lowly, and Trini bows her head.

“Yeah, that one’s alright.”

“Also…” Trini’s eyes dart downwards to where Kim’s shirt is still rucked up, and her voice lowers to a whisper. “You’re not the only one with a piercing.”

“You mean…?” Kim looks down between Trini’s legs, and Trini scrunches up her face

“ _God_ no. Not there.”

“So…” Kim waves a hand vaguely in the direction of Trini’s chest, and Trini winks. “Did it hurt?”

“Like a bitch.”

“Did you get both sides done?”

“Nah, just the left.”

Kim makes like she’s going to punch Trini in the chest, and the speed with which Trini scrambles away from her is only just short of sound-barrier-breaking.

“Not cool!”

“Sit back down, you drama queen.”

“Menace.”

Kim drains her can, and Trini wordlessly hands her another. It’s almost scary, the way they’ve adjusted to each other so quickly. It shouldn’t come as a shock, as they’ve spent pretty much every waking hour together since they left, but it still leaves Kim nearly speechless when she realises just how much Trini’s come to mean to her so quickly.

“Trini?”

“What?”

“Thanks for coming with me.”

“Bitch, after this, I think I’d follow you anywhere.”

They share a smile then, small and secret, and Kim thinks she might just be a little bit in love with the way Trini looks in the firelight, with the flickering of the fire making her face sharp and angular one moment and heartbreakingly soft the next. Her eyelashes fan out when she looks down, nearly sweeping the tops of her cheekbones, and Kim takes a swig of her drink to distract from the way her thoughts are very quickly bordering on Not Appropriate.

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“Want one?” Trini pulls something out of her apparently bottomless rucksack, and offers an open packet of cigarettes to Kim.

“Sure. I feel bad taking all your stuff, though.”

“Don’t stress. You’re paying for petrol, it’s the least I can do.”

“Oh I am, am I?” Kim bursts out laughing at the deer-in-the-headlights expression on Trini’s face, and tries to calm her down through her laughter. “Chill, I’m paying, oh my _god_ you should’ve seen your face.”

“You’re gonna make me die an early death.”

“At least you’ll have done something fun with your life.”

“Yeah,” Trini leans back, looking up at the sky, and Kim follows suit, “I will have.”

Kim looks up at the littering of stars covering the otherwise inky black sky, far more than are ever visible in Angel Grove, and sighs.

“Jesus, you’re a sappy motherfucker.”


	9. well there's nothing to hide and nothing to prove

Trini’s done a few things that she regrets in her life, but this definitely isn’t one.

“Trini.”

“Yes?”

“Just give it to me.” Kim pouts, and Trini has to physically force herself to _not_ immediately hand over her lighter.

“Give what to you?”

“Stop being a brat, just-“ she lunges over, making a grab for the lighter, and nearly kicks one of the logs in the firepit.

“You didn’t say please!”

“God, where is this coming from?” Kim keeps making unsuccessful attempts to grab the lighter, an incredulous expression on her face. “I can hardly get you to interact with me like a normal human for the past two days, and now you’re acting like a ten year old.”

“I get it from my brothers.” Trini leans back so far she’s almost lying down, cursing the fact that Kimberly has the height advantage, and stretches her arm out as far as it'll go.

“You’ve got brothers?” Kim asks, her tone deceptively casual as she crawls forward, stretching out over Trini’s torso to reach her clenched fist, and Trini rolls over to protect it against her stomach as she curls into herself.

“Two.” It’s muffled against her chest, but Trini’s pretty sure Kim gets the gist.

“Cute. How old?” Kim digs her fingers into Trini’s ribs, and Trini jolts so hard that a cloud of dust rises and settles in her hair, making her cough. “Gotcha!” Kim straddles Trini, grabbing her flailing arm by the wrist and trying to prise open her hand.

Ten years of mixed martial arts training comes in handy, though, and Trini barely has to think before her body’s reacting, thrusting her hips up with enough force that Kim’s thrown forward, and grabbing her wrist before hooking her foot around Kim’s ankle and rolling them both.

Kim’s face is _covered_ in the fine dust that spread over the ground, and she’s spluttering with hair in her mouth and an expression that promises hell to pay. Trini leans forward, her hands pinning Kim’s wrists to the ground, until they’re face to face.

“All you had to do was say please.” She moves Kim’s wrists so that she can hold them with one hand, picking up the cigarette that Kim dropped and placing it delicately in her mouth before flicking the lighter and holding it to the tip.

“I hate you,” Kim says once Trini lets go, “so, _so_ much.” Her legs are still loosely wrapped around Trini from where she was straddling her earlier, and Trini’s bravado wilts when she realises the position they’re in. She scrambles up, praying the firelight obscures her blush, and busies herself with pouring some bottled water onto the corner of her towel. She hands it to Kim, gesturing at her face, and she takes it gracefully after passing the cigarette to Trini.

The result… is mud. A thin layer of grime, smeared all over Kim’s face, unfortunately not doing anything to obscure just how pretty she is. Trini can’t help but laugh. Kim’s brow screws up, and she pushes Trini gently.

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s a little funny, Kim.”

“You’re so mean to me.”

“Hey, hey,” Trini moves in front of Kim, resting on her knees, and picks up the discarded towel and water bottle. “I’m sorry. Let me?” At Kim’s pout, but reluctant nod, she takes Kim’s chin gently, in the hand holding the cigarette, and starts to wipe away the worst of the clinging dirt.

“I’m sorry for getting you all dirty.”

“Sorry for pinning you.”

“Sorry for being childish.” Trini mumbles, wiping the dirt away from under her eyes carefully as Kim looks up, her soft lashes brushing her brow bone.

“Sorry for getting rough.”

“Never apologise for that.”

Kim looks at her then, tilting her head with absolutely no amusement in her face, and Trini grimaces. Her expression shifts though, to something a little more thoughtful, and she replies with “yeah, I can kind of see that.”

Trini can only look at her in shock, her mouth hanging open, and Kim smirks.

“Get back to your job, loser.”

Trini does so.

“So, that was a smooth move you pulled. You a wrestler, or something?”

“Nah. Did MMA for a few years, though.”

“Oh, sweet. And brothers? God, you’re a wealth of information tonight.”

“Yeah,” Trini smiles fondly, “twins. Ratbags, but they’re alright.”

“Younger?”

“Obviously.”

“True.” Kim acquiesces.

“And we,” Trini swipes the towel over Kim’s left eyebrow (she’s lingered long enough), “are done.”

“Thank god.” Kim groans, and plucks the burnt out smoke from between Trini’s fingertips, grabbing her lighter from the ground with lightning fast speed.

“I’m not gonna play that game again, you’re free to use it.”

“I don’t trust you.” Kim says, narrowing her eyes.

“After all we’ve been through? I’m shattered.”

“You’re being so weird tonight.”

“Weird as in…?” Trini ends her sentence in an uplift, quirking her eyebrow at Kim.

“As in… friendly.”

Trini can’t really say anything to dispute that, so she hums noncommittally as she grabs another can and tosses it to Kim, taking another and popping the tab.

“Thanks of supplying.”

“Thanks for driving, and supplying gas, and bringing the sleeping gear, and the tent.”

“Yeah, when you put it in those terms you haven’t done shit.” Kim says, taking a swig.

“Hey! I’m the fucking _backbone_ of this expedition.”

“Please, you’re the, the…” Kim furrows her brow, before her face lights up. “You’re the asscheek!”

“I’m the _what_?” Trini bursts out into laughter, Kim joining her, barely able to get out her next words. “Kim, you’re drunk as shit.”

“I think I might be?” She holds up her can, turning so she can read it in the firelight. “And it’s no wonder, with this percentage! Are you trying to kill me?”

“I’ve had one more than you, and you don’t hear me calling you an asscheek.”

“That’s ‘cause I’m not one.”

“What denotes an asscheek?”

“Ask me that in the morning.” Kim replies, snorting.

“Don’t you mean ass you in the morning?”

Kim doesn’t bother replying, just looks at her with a face that screams _really?_

“Okay, I might be a bit drunk too.”

“You think?” Kim leans back against one of the trees, her face looking up, and a serene smile on her face.

“Having a moment?”

“Communing with nature. Shut it.”

Trini debates annoying her even further, electing instead to prop up her bag and lean her head on it. She looks up through the trees and sneaks glances at Kim every now and again, at her upturned nose and her full lips, the beauty mark on the corner of them that she can’t help but feel her eyes drawn to, at the short and choppy ends of her hair as they graze her collar.

They’re silent, for a while, listening to the crackle of the fire and looking up at the sky, and Trini honestly thinks her heart might burst, she’s- the moment is so perfect, just cold enough to be cozy in the jacket she stole from Kim earlier, warm and fleecy and _enormous,_ and she’s watching the sparks from the fire spiral up and up and she’s looking at the stars, and she just feels like… like this is what she’s been searching for. This kind of contentment, this kind of adventure, this kind of picture-perfect moment that she can only normally dream about.

She's drunk, sure, but that doesn't change anything.

Kim shifts, and Trini feels the slight touch of the back of Kim’s hand against her own. She flexes her fingers, experimentally, opening her palm and turning it so it faces up, waiting with bated breath until Kim slowly laces her own fingers with Trini’s.

Her breath catches in her chest, and Kim slowly circles the base of Trini’s thumb with her own until Trini breathes normally again. This is fine, she can blame it on the alcohol, she’s had like four standards drinks in half an hour- It’s definitely the alcohol.

(It’s definitely not).

“Trini?”

“Kim.”

“What are you running from?”

Trini can’t even answer sarcastically, not when she’s this close to Kim knowing that little bit more about her, and as much as Trini can bluster and deflect until she goes blue in the face, the truth is she wants to be _known._

“Running?”

“Why were you so ready to drop it all to run away with me, someone you’d never spoken to before?”

She’s silent for a little while, her jaw moving while she tries to come up with some approximation of an answer.

“I’m… always the new girl. My family’s been moving around, three new towns in as many years, each one as fucking boring and backwater as the next, each school exactly the same, all the people carbon copies.

And you know what’s crazy? I liked it that way, I liked the,” she struggles to find the words to say, her mind racing a mile a minute while she tries to get her mouth to catch up, not wanting to lose this momentum she has going, “anonymity? Of it? I liked that my parents never had the time to know me, or to pry into my life and my relationships, that I never had to bother getting close to people because we’d just pack it up and leave it all, but underneath it all I was just so _angry,_ angry that they had the nerve to uproot our lives, again and again, especially the-“

Her voice breaks. She takes a deep breath, and Kim’s thumb resumes it’s pattern. It helps, drawing breath to the time it takes Kim to do one slow circuit, and she gathers her thoughts again.

“The twins don’t care, they’re just boys who have each other and their stupid action figures and the weird little games they make up, but it’s just _not fair_ that _mami_ thinks she can take them away from everything they’ve learnt and that they know, and I want them to grow up better than I did, without the resentment and the grating fucking anger against our parents, because sometimes I feel that’s all I am.”

“It’s not.” Kim speaks up for the first time since Trini spoke, and she starts in surprise. “It’s not all you are.”

She turns to face Trini, brushing away a lock of hair that’s fallen over Trini’s eyes, and tucking it up into her beanie. Her fingers are deft and delicate, every movement precise and gentle, and Trini has to stop herself from leaning into the touch.

“You’re so, so funny. And you’re willing to go along with all my high-maintenance shit and stupid ideas, and you were brave enough to leave your life behind to go on a road trip with someone who for all you know might be an axe murderer, and I honestly think you might be one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life.” Kim huffs a little, looking embarrassed. “I can definitely tell you’re not from Angel Grove.”

“I guess that’s a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

Kim smiles at her, her lips curving up gently, the firelight reflecting against her hair and highlighting her Cupid’s Bow, and Trini surely isn’t stupid enough to lean in.

She’s not. She’s really not.

She turns away, looking up to the sky again, and continuing.

“I wanted to take that away from them. I wanted to uproot _myself,_ change my _own_ life, do something for me. I even… I guess I wanted to scare them, to. I want them to finally, just maybe, actually consider my well-being instead of just the fact that I’m a disappointment.”

“You could never be a disappointment.”

“Whatever, Hart.” She sniffs, thankful that she hasn’t started crying. “Don’t get all mushy on me now.”

Kim just sighs, but there’s no venom to the sound.

“Just you wait till you hear why _I_ did it.”

“I guess that means you’re not gonna tell me now?”

“Not tonight, Gomez. But just you wait.”

Trini huffs, nestling against her bag, trying to get comfortable. “So, what now?”

“No, I guess we go to bed?”

“You’re not nearly as much of a party animal as I would’ve expected.”

Kim sighs happily, her face radiant as she looks across at the fire. “No sleeping bag, no opinion.”


	10. you are my tomorrow

Kim unrolls the sleeping bag, fluffing up the pillow before throwing it in the general direction of the front of the tent.

“Not too bad, I guess.” Trini drawls from the corner.

“Yeah, thanks for all your help, pillow princess.”

Trini looks up with lightning speed then, her eyes wide. “Uh, Kim, I’m pretty sure… I don’t think… do you know what pillow princess means?”

Kim feels her cheeks flush then, and she throws her pyjama bottoms at Trini. “Yes, I know what pillow princess _means._ I know you might not be familiar with the concept of a joke, but people make them sometimes!”

Trini catches the pants with a giggle, throwing them back. They hit the light, a lantern that Kim strung up in the highest part of the tent, and it sends shadows up around the walls.

“Did you douse the fire properly?”

“Yeah, kicked dirt over it.”

“And you got all your stuff slash my stuff?”

Trini rolls her eyes, inspecting her fingernails. “I got it all, chill. What would even happen to it?”

“Famous last words, Trini. So, are you coming to bed or not?” Kim punctuates her question by dragging her t shirt over her head, tossing it to the side and snagging another from the floor of the tent. She turns around, with her arms through the sleeves of the shirt but her torso still bare, and looks at Trini questioningly, innocently.

“Um. Yeah. I am.” Trini’s looking at her face, but she’s looking at her face _far_ too intensely, and Kim takes pity on her. She pulls the tee the rest of the way down to where it skims the tops of her thighs, and yanks the discarded pyjama pants on, falling over in the process.

“You’re still drunk.” Trini says accusingly, and Kim just groans from the floor.

“So are you.”

“Look, maybe.”

“So, if you’re all ready to go to bed, what are you waiting for?” Kim drags herself into a sitting position as she asks Trini, collapsing onto the sleeping bag. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea because _okay yeah she didn’t bring a mattress_ and the only thing separating them from the cold, hard ground is the tent floor and one thin layer of the sleeping bag.

Trini gets up from where she’s been sitting cross legged, and roots through her bag. “Look away.” She gestures at Kim, and Kim can only raise her eyebrow.

“I promise you it’s nothing I haven’t seen before, but alright.” She busies herself with nestling into her little cocoon, and yeah a mattress would’ve been a _really_ good idea. The ground is pretty freezing, and she can only hope Trini runs hot.

Speak of the devil, she turns the lantern off and Kim can feel her crawl over to the mouth of the sleeping bag and wrestle her way in.

“There’s not need to be so- _ow!”_

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry, was that your nose?”

“Of course it was my nose!”

“Aw I’m so sorry, here-“ Trini’s hands make their way up to the sides of Kim’s face and they’re _freezing,_ and Trini pulls Kim’s face forward to pepper clumsy little kisses over the bridge of her nose. “Better?” She asks as she pulls away, her hands still lingering on her cheeks.

“Yeah, I mean I _guess_ so.” Kim grumbles.

There’s a beat of silence then before they both start giggling, and Trini takes her hands back, rolling over.

“You’re soooo drunk.” Kim draws out the middle word, sing-songing it, and Trini slaps at her thigh blindly.

“I’m not the only one!”

“Shut up and get over here, I’m cold.”

“That’s the classiest way I’ve ever been propositioned.”

“I hate you _so_ much.”

“I think you’ve said that to me…” Trini’s silent for a while, and Kim nudges her. “What?”

“What were you gonna say?”

“I was saying something?”

“Oh my god, go to sleep.” Trini starts saying something, but Kim reaches around to put her finger against Trini’s lips, shushing her. Trini just licks a stripe up her finger, and Kim recoils in disgust.

“You asked for it.”

Kim doesn’t even bother replying, just snakes her arm around Trini’s waist and pulls her in. She got her wish, Trini’s like a little furnace, and she sighs happily before resting her face against Trini’s shoulder.

“I wish you were taller.” She mumbles against her, and Trini huffs.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Grow.”

“I’ll get right on that.” She says, but there’s no real venom in the words. They’re both tired out and Kim can’t speak for Trini but she’s drunk to the point of dopey tiredness. In a last ditch effort, though, she pulls her phone out from underneath the pillow, turning the flash on and snapping a selfie. She winks, sticking her tongue out, and when the light turns on Trini just groans. The picture comes out with Trini’s furrowed brow and grimace, and Kim looks… absolutely smashed. She tosses it to the side, burrowing further into the sleeping bag and closer to Trini.

 

***

 

She wakes to the cracking of sticks. Grumbling, she rolls over, seeking Trini’s warmth. All she gets is a warm sleeping bag but no warm Trini, and she sits up.

“Trin?” She calls out.

“Yeah? I’m just making another fire.”

“Ugh, some kind of one night stand you are. Didn’t even have the decency to wake me up?”

“Bitch, I _tried._ ” Her silhouette appears outside the tent, and she unzips it. The sunlight streams in, and Kim winces. “You were out cold.”

“Not a surprise.” Kim mutters, flopping back down. “I’m so tired.”

“I can see that. I cooked breakfast, though.”

“You what?” That gets Kim’s attention, and she shoots up. “How?”

“I walked down to that gas station down the road and got some eggs, bread, butter and bacon.”

“Trini, that’s like…” Kim tries to work it out, her mind muddled, “what, two miles? Forty minutes each way?”

“Yeah, I like walking.” Trini shrugs, gesturing at the tent flap. “So, you eating?”

“Fuck yeah.” Kim stretches, getting up out of the sleeping bag. Thank god the sun isn’t too bright yet, otherwise she would’ve been woken up in a sauna.

Trini’s poking at the fire, the beaten up old cast iron pan that Kim had thrown in the car at the last minute sizzling away. Trini grabs a plastic spatula, flipping some bacon onto the seared bread, along with two eggs each. 

“You’re my idol and I love you.”

“That’s your stomach talking.”

“I’ll revise that statement when I’ve tasted it.”

Trini raises her eyebrow, passing a plate over to Kim when she plonks down on the ground, and wrapping her jacket ( _Kim’s_ jacket, which Trini seems to have adopted) tighter around her shoulders.

“Oh my god,” Kim moans around a mouthful of bacon, “this is _divine_ ”

“Divine, huh? So you do love me?”

“More than words can express.”

Trini chuckles, taking her own plate and sitting down across from Kim. She digs in with a similar expression to what Kim thinks must be on her own face, and they sit in silence until they’ve finished devouring breakfast.

“Hey, Kim?” Trini asks, when they’ve thrown the paper plates in the fire and put everything else away.

“Yeah?”

“What makes me an asscheek, again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so um. funny story, I ended up getting my OWN left nipple pierced about a week after writing the chapter where Trini reveals that she has her own done! This is wjulesw's influence, everybody.


	11. i can hear those echoes in the wind at night, calling me back in time (back to you)

Trini leans back in the dirt, licking the last of her breakfast off her fingers.

“Enjoying yourself?” Kimberly asks, tying her hair back.

“I enjoyed breakfast. Not so much the grease all over me.”

“Poor thing.”

Trini pouts in answer, sticking her tongue out at Kimberly.

“Also, I was wondering. Did you wanna go to a laundromat or something soon? Just ‘cause I’ve still got some clothes left, but the ones i’ve worn are covered in salt or dirt, or they never dried properly and smell gross, or have food stains on them.” Kim says, looking very pointedly at where Trini’s wiping her fingers on the hem of her jacket.

“Oh shit, I completely forgot I was wearing your jacket, I’m-“

“Babe, it’s fine. But yeah, can we try and find one soon? I’m a little tired of living in squalor. No point devising an elaborate scheme to finally get a warm shower if you’re just getting into filthy clothes afterwards.”

“It was hardly elaborate.” Trini argues, but Kim holds a finger up.

“Are you gonna split hairs with me over this?” 

Trini can feel a reluctant grin stretch across her face, and shakes her head at Kimberly’s antics. “You would be the worst girlfriend."

“I think the whole school would agree with you there.”

“Self-burn.”

“Thanks for setting it up for me.”

Trini reaches over and boops Kim on the nose. “Anytime.”

 

***

 

“Okay, so.” Kim starts, and Trini looks up from where she’s kneeling down, wrenching the tent pegs out of the dirt.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“No no, it’s not a bad thing. It’s just, like-“ she steps into Trini’s point of view, holding both the sleeping bag that they slept in last night, and another familiar looking one.

“Wait, so we had two sleeping bags this whole time?”

“Yeah… you slept in it the night before last.”

Trini sighs, “Jesus, I did didn’t I?”

“We’re both idiots.”

“Hey, it’s your sleeping bag. You’re the idiot.”

“Yeah, and you’re the one who slept under it like, a night ago.” Kim says, nudging Trini’s thigh with her toe.

“How about we say we’re both to blame?”

“I guess.”

“So, does this mean I can sleep out of the suffocating death grip you call spooning?”

Kim’s face is the picture of hurt, and Trini can’t help but feel a little bit bad.

“I’m joking, you know. It wasn’t awful.”

“Good, because you’re super warm and I’m pretty sure I’d get hypothermia if I had to sleep in my own sleeping bag on the ground. No biggie.”

“Kimberly, it’s the beginning of summer. Thanks for the guilt trip.”

Kim smiles then, a big, goofy, closed-mouth smile. “You’re welcome!”

 

***

 

“I’m kinda sad to say bye to this place.” Kim observes, Trini walking up behind her from where she’d finished putting the last of the stuff in the car.

“I know, right? We hardly saw any of it but I really liked it here.”

Kim reaches behind her, taking Trini’s hands and drawing them around her waist. Trini leans up, resting her chin on Kim’s shoulder, and she listens as Kim inhales deeply through her nose.

“Should we go and see what other adventures we can find?” Trini asks, turning her head so her cheek sits on Kim’s shoulder.

“Mmm, yeah. Let’s go.”

Trini disentangles their hands, but Kim keeps a hold of her right one, passing it between her right and left hands so their palms fit together while they walk to the car, swinging lightly.

“Where to next?” Trini asks as she opens her door, dropping into the passenger seat and propping her feet up on the dashboard.

“The open road, baby. The open road.”

“And a laundromat.”

“And a laundromat.”

 

***

 

It’s when they’re actually on the open road that Trini opens up her phone to an absolute dearth of concerned messages from her parents, and she sees Kim peeking a glance at her own phone in the cupholder. The hand not on the wheel creeps towards it, and Trini catches it.

“Not happening, eyes on the road.”

Kim huffs and rolls her eyes, but Trini can see a quirk at the side of her mouth before it opens in a squeal.

“Trini, Trini!” She slaps Trini’s wrist, pointing at a sign on the side of the road.

“Fruit?”

“I’ve always wanted to stop at one of these stalls!”

True to her word, Kim slows the car to a roll and then a stop at the edge of the gravel, stepping out to inspect the cart filled with punnets of berries and baskets of apples.

“This is so cute!” She whispers to Trini, taking her hand again.

“You two girls just passing through?” The man sitting in the chair with his feet up asks.

“Yeah, just on a road trip. It’s our anniversary this week, my girlfriend and I are so excited to get some alone time.” Kim exclaims, gesturing to the two of them. Trini tenses up a little at that, scrutinising the man’s face, but he just looks bored.

“Yeah, so I think we’ll just get a punnet of strawberries, a punnet of blueberries and a few apples.” Trini says out loud, rushing her words as she gathers the fruits. Kim pays, shushing Trini’s protest, and Trini just walks back to the car with her ears buzzing. She sits down in her seat, the fruit strewn over her lap, and waits for Kim to get back in.

“Hey, you okay? Sorry, if that was too much, I was just joking around-“

“Yeah, well it’s not a fucking joke.” Trini snaps.

“God, sorry.” Kim starts the engine again, and they peel away. She gropes her hand around, snapping open the punnet of blueberries, and stuffs a handful in her mouth. She looks at Trini, her expression comical as she chews, and Trini can’t help but crack a smile. Kim smiles at her too, the blueberry skins all stuck to her perfect teeth, and Trini giggles.

“Sorry for blowing up at you before.” She mutters, rubbing her fingers together.

“No, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have joked about it, and not to a stranger.”

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Trini shakes her head, frustrated when she can't get the words out.

“Hey, it’s fine. You can tell me whatever it is.” Kim rubs her thumb over Trini’s hand, separating the two and preventing her from fidgeting. Her hands are sticky but warm, and Trini catches Kim’s thumb with her own.

“It’s just, I don’t want you to make a joke out of this, because you’re straight and you’ll never know what it’s like to be the butt of jokes that straight girls make about dating each other and, I don’t know, being gay for each other or whatever. It fucking sucks.”

“I know, I’m really sorry.”

“And especially ‘cause, like, I can’t even say it yet. Like, I’d love to joke about it, but I can’t, and I just had to stand there and look at his face and not know how he was going to react. It’s one thing when you’re just going along with something some old woman’s assumed when it’s obvious she doesn’t care, but not like that.”

“Trini, I had no idea, I wish I could say I’m sorry more. I really am.”

“Thank you.” Trini looks forward, their intertwined hands still in her lap, watching the coastline wrap around the cliffs they’re driving on top of.

“Where the fuck are we, by the way? I didn’t even know there were forests around here.”

“Babe, I wish I could tell you. We’re flying blind. At least we’ve got reception.”

At that, Trini takes out her phone, looking at her maps app. “Oh shit, Kim, we’re actually pretty close to civilisation. I bet there’s a laundromat.”

“You had me at ‘I bet there’s a laundromat’”

“That’s literally the last thing I said.”

“I stand by it.”

Trini pulls her hand away from Kim’s, slapping it lightly as she rolls her eyes.

“Now come on, feed me. It’s irresponsible for me to be distracted from the road like this.”

Trini pulls open the punnet of strawberries, inspecting one before pulling the leaves back and holding it in front of Kim’s mouth. She takes a delicate nibble, moaning at the taste, and Trini gives up on trying to look away from the movement of her tongue where it brushes her lip. She keeps doing that, taking small bites and then savouring every last bit of the taste, to the point where Trini literally feels like she’s being a voyeur just watching her eat a goddamn _strawberry._ Kim gestures to the blueberries next, and Trini holds one up for her. She lunges forward, nipping lightly at Trini’s fingertips, and Trini hisses while Kim cackles.

“You’re such a bitch, what the fuck!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but come on. That was pretty funny.”

“Feed yourself, you animal.” Trini proclaims, shutting the punnet and shoving both of them them onto the centre console before picking an apple from the bag Kim bought and taking a big bite of one.

“You love me.”

“Shut up.”

“You love this.”

“Shut _up.”_

“You’re so glad you came on this road trip with me.”

“Shut u- maybe. But shut up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, it's literally been so long it's not even funny, but i FINALLY got the motivation to update. I've been out of the groove for a while, so I apologise if the flow isn't quite right, but GOD it was so therapeutic to actually finish something so idc lmao
> 
> also my life has been ridiculous the past few weeks there's been so much drama and I wish I could say that's why I haven't update but I'm just lazy! Sorry but I hope you enjoy
> 
> I'll leave you with a quote from WJulesW, when I was talking about Trini feeding Kim fruit and Kim biting her fingers: "LET HER SUCK ON HER FINGERS YOU COWARD"

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely motivated by me listening to country music and crying so I sincerely apologise
> 
> Follow me on tumblr and join my crying @ dyeanaprince.tumblr.com


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